SuperHeavy and Starship launch ...

Another destructive (i.e. no recovery) rocket test imminent: booster and second stage will be ditched in the Gulf of Mexico and Indian Ocean respectively. Two holds so far.

They are talking nonsense. #SpaceX is an avid filer of patents, mainly covering #Starlink satcoms technology, rather than rocketry. Are we to suppose they'd open-source all that? Unlikely given the runaway race to LEO.

Gulp. Still haven't watched it. Seems to me a ludicrous simulacrum of the original series without the people who matter. Also, as my 1968 Star Trek annual shows, TNG does not talk proper RAF English. 🤩

When night falls on a lunar surface mission, temperatures plummet - and spacecraft die a frozen death. To the rescue comes Volta Space, which is planning to beam mission-saving laser power to rovers and landers from lunar orbit. #SBSP aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/...

We're obviously on the same wavelength, as my best ever liked tweet, with 1800 likes, attests (Branston is a pickle!).

Found on the south London woodland nature reserve I volunteer on - looks like ancient prototype DNA ... writ large in ivy.

Little surprise given the spectacular breakup, but the FAA just said it is indeed investigating the destructive reentry of a SpaceX Starship, shortly after launch, over the Turks and Caicos Islands yesterday.

And from a year earlier - my ACM story summarizing the first great backlash against LLMs - seeking a pause in development - from everyone from law enforcement, to computer scientists and the White House. cacm.acm.org/news/rage-ag... #compsci #LLM #ai #

Why allowing hallucinating LLMs to interpret, and act on, data from smartphones, medical devices and IoT sensors is "misguided and dangerous". My April 2024 story for @theofficialacm.bsky.social #Compsci #AI #LLM #IoT cacm.acm.org/news/safety-...

This is our 17-year-old cat Honey hiding from firework noise under a sofa throw. 🎆🙀

During lockdown, I took my spanking new iPhone 11 out to Clapham Common in London. Snapped this gorgeous heron, which took off right in front of me. Look at those ailerons.